Journeyed cross country between two railway lines by bus - Takayama to Matsumoto, and then caught a train to Nagano. The bus ride was over a pretty big mountain range although a lot of it was through tunnels some of which were pretty impressive in length. Very scenic ride.

Hello hello, So right now it is 10pm at night here in Mashashiro but I couldn`t wait untiil the morning to post about what I did today. First I woke up at 7am and had a 10 meal breakfast....literally. Today we had fried chicken bites, ham, yogurt, these little custard filled things..similar to a twinkie but think of a Nordstrom twinkie.... …

Our time in Suzaka and at the zen temple has come to an end. We've spent such beautiful days here, helping out on a meaningful project, and, in return, having the opportunity to live in a stunning natural area and experiencing many traditional Japanese activities and rituals: the tea ceremony with all its details and formality; zazen meditation, …

Today I decided to have a little bit of a lie in, because of how quiet the hostel room was, instead of the norm of being woken up at 6.30 by people getting ready to leave for the day! Once up and out I headed for Nagano's only real tourist attraction (known more as a winter skiing destination) Zenko-ji shrine. Thankfully the weather had improved …

Monday, June 17th: Today I took a walk around Nagano in the sunny weather. I had planned to go to the zoo but I decided not to and to instead just take a walk and explore. I was hoping I would find some nice clothes since I have run out of clean things to wear. I wanted to bring as little as possible so it only lasts for about a week. I knew it was …

So, we are off on our cross-country adventure. The first trip was pretty quick and easy. It was my first time on the Shinkansen, or bullet train. We got to the station and tried to get reserved seat tickets. The reserved seats are included with our train passes, but the next two trains were booked. We decided to check out the non-reserved cars so …

We ate breakfast in a Coffee House near our hotel and then caught a taxi to Kyoto Station. From there we took the Hikari Shinkansen to Nagoya and then the Shinano express to Nagano. On the way we passed through Ena again.

Arriving at Nagano we managed to identify our hotel on the city map, a couple of …

We woke up early and set off in very wet conditions from Tokyo heading for the main train station. We boarded a Shinkansen a high speed bullet train that went from Tokyo to Nagano. These trains can travel at speeds of 190 mph. Before we knew it we were at Nagano and swapped over to the Electric railway bound for the mountain town of Yudanaka. When …

Today I got to sleep in a little bit. We went to Zenkoji Temple today. Zenkoji is a Buddhist temple that is welcoming to everyone especially women. It is considered to be a national treasure by the government here.

No one is allowed to see the statue of the Buddha here and its replica is only shown once every 7 years. It consists of 3 …

Family Day.. Mums request. It was 1 hour drive in the taxi but worth it. We went to the Zenkoji Temple.

It was fantastic. A guide helped us with the whole experience. We had to take off our shoes. It was very cold. Walk on the bamboo reed mats. First we had to worship the gods. Take pinch of salt. Say a prayer and then threw …

Related BlogsZenkoji Temple Nagano

... and see the snow monkey, which is only and hour from Nagano.
However I did get another great experience.
I stayed at the foot of Zenkojitemple in the north of the city. The guest house was in a 100 year old Budha temple, we couldnt even take our ...

... at the room plan we have one of the larger rooms. In the guide book it says there were many shojin ryori restaturants near the Zenkojitemple so we headed there. It was dark and we almost needed fleeces! Up at the Temple, we couldn't see any ...

According the legend of the ZenkojiTemple in Nagano, I'm now eternally saved! What a bargain for only 500 yen, let me tell you. Ok, first to the beginning....
I woke up today to sunny skies here in Matsumoto and ate a quick breakfast ...

... we met up quickly and went to the hostel, getting lost along the way. After dropping the bags off we walked around ZenkojiTemple and went into their underground tunnel network that was absolute darkness (500 yen entry fee). Supposedly one touch of ...

... drinks and cakes later) just before 2:00 for the walk to the hotel. We had an early start because we went to the ZenkojiTemple before breakfast to see the monks at their morning ceremony. We left the ryokan at 6:40 stepping out into a white world with ...

... couple of months, another one bitten by the Japan bug! I spent a couple of days doing the tourist thing around Nagano including Zenkojitemple which was more busy than usual as the temple was displaying the first Buddhist statue to be brought into Japan ...

... in the Japanese Alps. Everyone seemed super friendly compared to the megalopolis of Tokyo. We took a sunny mid-morning stroll around Zenkojitemple then slurped some delicious soba for lunch. The sakura was past full bloom but looked fantastic around the ...

... yourself for hours on end and was one we wished we had more time for. However there was one final stop to make today; ZenkojiTemple in Nagano city. Zenkoji is one of the oldest Japanese temples around and was the first to allow male and female ...

... to Toyama to see the Snow tunnel and do some hiking in the Alps 29th Today we decide to walk the main street and see the ZenkojiTemple. Well we are in for a great surprise. There is a huge parade heading to the temple, and we have arrived just before ...

... and us amused, and cameras snapping. Then it was back down to the bus again. Next stop was the ZenkojiTemple, one of Japan's most famous. Founded 1400 years ago, it is home to what many believe to be the first statue of Buddah brought ...